Dealership promo effort goes awry when everybody wins the grand prize

Only one prospect was supposed to come up a winner. Nobody was more surprised than the dealer. Everybody came up a winner after a direct-mail marketing company hired by a New Mexico Honda dealership mistakenly sent out 50,000 scratch-off tickets to residents of the dealer’s market area - all of them declaring the ticket-holder the $1,000 grand prize winner. Just one of the tickets was supposed to be the grand-prize-winner, according to a report in the according to reports on Fox News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The dealership’s general manager said a typographical error by the direct marketing company had given all 50,000 scratch-off tickets grand prizes. The mistake was attributed to a proofreading error. The dealership is "making a full-faith effort" to investigate the mistake. In a statement, the direct marketing firm apologized "for any inconvenience this may has caused car shoppers in the Roswell market" and asked that any questions and concerns be directed to the company. Meanwhile, the names, addresses and phone numbers of "winners" who arrive at the dealership are being taken down. They will all be invited back to the dealership.

The Canadian Street Nationals will be held in Markham, Ontario Markham this weekend

The Canadian Street Nationals will be held July 27 to 29 at the Markham Fairgrounds in Markham, Ontario. The national event, also known as "Canats", will feature pre-1980 vehicles from across Canada and the United States. Held in conjunction with the Canadian Street Rod Association, the event includes a car show, demolition derby, monster truck show, flamethrowing competition, Beach Boys tribute band, and airbrushing and pinstriping displays. Car owners are welcome to register on-site; free parking is available to the public. For more information, visit SpeedoramaInfo.com.

The strange case of the car dealer stuffed into the trunk of a car

$1 million bail in case of auto dealer left in trunk of car Nebraska car dealer James Clark remains in critical condition after being beaten and stuffed into the trunk of a car during a robbery attempt at his dealership, according to reports in the Omaha World-Herald. One of the men charged in the case, Paul Miller, was permitted to hold a press conference at the County Jail and denied taking part in the assault. Miller and another man are being held on $1 million bail. Police are still seeking a third man. Miller said he had accompanied James Branch, the other man accused in the case, to Mr. Clark’s dealership ostensibly to look at cars. According to a published report, they walked into Mr. Clark’s office, grabbed him, punched him in the face, stole his wallet, and dragged him to a car where they locked him in the trunk. During the bail hearing, prosecutors said a phone call from a credit card company and a trail of blood led rescuers to the car trunk where Mr. Clark lay after being beaten. Mr. Clark's wife received a phone call from a credit card company alerting her to suspicious charges being made on her husband's account. Mrs. Clark then went to her husband's dealership. She found blood and her husband's false teeth on the floor and called 911, Police officers and firefighters followed smears of blood - apparently drag marks - leading to the vehicle where they found Mr. Clark in the trunk. Miller was arrested after police connected him to purchases made with Mr. Clark's credit card. They found that Miller and two other men had taken Mr. Clark's card to gas stations and used them to fill people's gas tanks in exchange for cash.

Alert Chevy dealer foils huge international vehicle sales scheme

An Ohio couple pleaded guilty to fraudulently buying $2.7 million in vehicles for export An Ohio Chevrolet dealer’s suspicions led authorities to unravel a multimillion-dollar international vehicle-selling scheme, according to a report in the Cincinnati Enquirer. A married couple pleaded guilty July 23 to dozens of charges stemming from their role in a plan to sell American-made vehicles overseas as “novelty items.” The couple admitted to purchasing more than $2.7 million in vehicles – GMC pickups, Hummers, Corvettes and Cadillac Escalades – at dealerships all over Ohio, to be shipped to a dealership in Australia. Those types of vehicles are not available in Australia, so they were being “ordered” by wealthy Australians who could afford to pay $120,000 for a pickup that sells for $40,000 in the U.S. The vehicles were to be reconfigured, switching the steering wheel from the left side to the right side, making vehicles compatible for use on Australian roads. In exchange for filling the Australian dealership’s “orders” for the desired vehicles, the couple was paid about $2,000 per vehicle, plus any applicable vehicle rebates. As a result, they netted about $160,000 in profits. They each pleaded guilty to 31 charges of attempted tampering with records and a count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Prosecutors agreed to drop 31 other counts of document tampering against each defendant. More people could be charged, possibly by officials in Australia. Authorities conducted a months-long investigation after Pulte Chevrolet grew leery of the couple’s repeat purchases. From November 2005 through October 2006, the couple bought 25 vehicles from Pulte, each time signing papers declaring they would pay sales taxes in other states. The couple used bogus names and fake addresses in Kentucky, Georgia and Nevada on the documents – and avoided paying about $186,000 in sales taxes.